https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings daily 0.75 2026-03-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1585432405624-NB3Y2R4FHWX69F9FGRXC/D28F6FBB-304C-4467-9E95-F6A3BC976169.jpeg Things I'm doing https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/i-published-a-game monthly 0.5 2026-03-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/2f890f6a-03f5-4a9b-b0f5-ee64010a3f0a/FelixCover.jpg Things I'm doing - I published a game! - It’s a cyberpunk-ish narrative set in the Ark City of Rime, where citizens live in stratified class systems defined by which layer of the pyramid-shaped society they reside in. Felix, our protagonist, scrapes by in the lowest level, the Underrime, which was never really supposed to exist. He’s a Tasker, which means he makes a sparse living from taking on odd jobs in the gig economy (which I’m afraid still thrives post-apocalypse). The only benefit of this precarious life is that it gives him license to visit the other layers from time to time, meaning he’s an excellent guide to the city. But it’s a stressful way to live, and for that reason he’s decided to outsource his decision-making to a chip embedded in his spinal column, which will help him choose between passive, aggressive, or assertive choices as he goes about his day… https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/narrative-voice-in-unexpected-places monthly 0.5 2026-02-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/fc9f7ca1-a194-499a-91ab-3a8c303f432e/PMA_KeyArt_1080p_jpeg.jpg Things I'm doing - Narrative Voice in unexpected places - Authors, they’re just like everyone else, right? I don’t do this kind of thing very often. Certainly not with video games - but I’m not wildly surprised, because I do it with books all the time. It’s just that I can read a book in 5 or 6 hours, so as long as I don’t start too late at night, I can still get some sleep. Promise Mascot Agency took me about 25 hours to complete, in total (I was taking my time because I was having so much fun). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/179b199e-5233-451b-aecd-3e6b0fad0a6c/ParadiseKiller_KeyArt_19201.jpeg Things I'm doing - Narrative Voice in unexpected places - If you’ve ever been in a room with me for longer than 5 minutes, you might well have heard me RAVE about Paradise Killer. It’s a cyberpunk/vaporwave vibe-fest, set in a sort of pocket reality universe where a powerful Syndicate of immortal elites worship strange gods called things like Damned Harmony and Crying Grudge. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/its-my-website-and-ill-html-if-i-want-to monthly 0.5 2025-12-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/0296795a-f29b-4313-9a6b-b9069cd62190/alexey-turenkov-SMKR4zjSdd4-unsplash.jpg Things I'm doing - It’s my website, and I’ll HTML if I want to - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/one-year-on-update monthly 0.5 2025-08-01 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/citizen-sleeper-and-the-immersive-power-of-interactive-fiction monthly 0.5 2025-06-06 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/i-wrote-for-the-big-issue monthly 0.5 2025-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/b8455dc5-0d92-4efd-80d3-a6d268739173/X+BI.jpg Things I'm doing - I wrote for the Big Issue! - Yep, that is what you think it is - a real life, paper magazine with an article in it written by meeeee! (I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m very excited). I’m also thrilled that this has happened for me in this magazine, the Big Issue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/48dc907f-a5b8-4feb-a2a1-fa6e63bbd6c2/IG+BI+AJ.jpg Things I'm doing - I wrote for the Big Issue! - If you’ve been following my publishing journey for longer than, oh, five minutes, you probably already know that homelessness is something I care about A Lot. The Big Issue is an institution when it comes to providing a voice, a light, and an option for work for people currently experiencing homelessness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/f2218528-d244-4623-b014-4270d84d1ee8/IG+BI.JPG Things I'm doing - I wrote for the Big Issue! - Also, the book I wrote hinges on homelessness - the main character, Jenny, is experiencing a common (and often hidden) form of homelessness when the book opens, because she’s sofa-surfing at her auntie’s house. It’s possibly unlikely that you’ll be able to grab a copy of this now, and honestly the article is really an attempt to let people know about the book, but I couldn’t help myself bringing up that there are teenagers right now living in conditions like this - and worse. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/by46cswnc9ypn6yfa7mt66byuzljlf monthly 0.5 2024-10-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1708357638707-4J00Y2F3BH710VZ2UATO/The+Dark+Within+Us+Cover+Reveal.png Things I'm doing - Read me: Culturefly article - There’s been a veritable flurry of publicity in the wake of THE DARK WITHIN US launching on the 1st August, and now, finally, I feel like I have time to sit down and really think about how lovely all these interviews and article requests have been! I especially liked this one for Culturefly - you know how I feel about SKINS after all, and this was a great opportunity to share that further with the world… https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/ukya-spotlight-interview monthly 0.5 2024-10-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/39e4c456-b3ac-46bd-965f-e30eb61e2426/The+Dark+Within+Us.jpg Things I'm doing - UKYA Spotlight Interview! - UKYA Spotlight is a month of cool interviews and events celebrating UK YA books and writers - it’s honestly great!! I was lucky enough to be interviewed along with the truly excellent Brían Dungan and Cecilia Vinesse. If you’d like to see what we all had to say, you can do that on Sifa’s blog. Fair warning though, my answers are by FAR the longest. You know what I’m like. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/introducing-careers-advice-for-writers monthly 0.5 2024-10-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/b669b2f6-3df0-4236-9269-1458375cc818/Covers+for+web+links.png Things I'm doing - Introducing: Careers Advice for Writers - Well, hi. I’m Jess, I’m a writers and a careers advisor… …and over the past couple of weeks I’ve taken it upon myself to yap some careers advice for writers into the abyss that is TikTok. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/gratitude monthly 0.5 2024-09-16 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/book-signings-north-amp-south monthly 0.5 2024-09-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/8f919e85-9302-4a19-b7d1-d7a30e1889c9/bbc02154-1758-47a8-a083-d354febf976e.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Signings, North &amp; South - I can say this with confidence now, because over the past few weeks I’ve met loads of them. (And, as an avid reader, I’ve met a fair few beforehand as well!) This is because I’ve been lucky enough to pop into bookshops across London and Yorkshire to sign copies of THE DARK WITHIN US. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/96b58e17-d0ea-4d94-a6cb-e32b3a5fc8ac/277fa928-cc7f-42fd-88d7-8398ddfb3fb1.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Signings, North &amp; South - It’s been great - I did some the day after my launch, and then my mum very kindly chauffeured me across Yorkshire for a few more. I also did a few with my fellow 1st August Book Release buddies, Nazima Pathan (DREAM HUNTERS, 9+) and Farrah Riaz (THE TWIRLY WIGGLY DANCE, picture book). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/225396e7-972d-4c53-808e-4e62419b1a87/42247c0d-8cb5-475f-894b-2045e5a3b2a3.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Signings, North &amp; South - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/105ea4b5-c07b-4f04-be7d-d3ba0b419de4/IMG_1711.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Signings, North &amp; South - So, if you’re nearby any time soon and fancy a signed copy, you might want to pop into… The Children’s Bookshop, London West End Lane Books, London Brick Lane Books, London https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/fd46a05d-8009-4c6b-82c9-1c1b0d0cf67c/IMG_1720.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Signings, North &amp; South - Waterstones Trafalgar Square Waterstones Piccadilly Waterstones Gower Street Waterstones Leeds (thank you for putting me in the window, lads!) Waterstones York Waterstones Harrogate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/2ca23878-235a-447e-aaef-6524d651ff8f/IMG_1697.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Signings, North &amp; South - Foyles, Charing Cross Stripey Badger, Grassington The Book Corner, Halifax The Little Bookshop, Leeds Imagined Things, Harrogate https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/book-launch-loveliness monthly 0.5 2024-08-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/24154214-1485-4899-a748-c9ffca1b8811/6347f9e5-76f8-4738-af3c-45159beadf88.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Launch Loveliness - Two weeks ago today, I had the launch party for my debut novel, THE DARK WITHIN US. It was AMAZING. I’m serious - I could not have asked for a better celebration for this whole enterprise. And look, I’m not naturally very good at celebrating my own successes - ask anyone! I am the classic “oh, this old thing?” kind of girl when it comes to compliments. Specifically in terms of this book, I really like it when people comment on the cover because a) it is truly gorgeous but also more importantly b) I didn’t design the cover, so I don’t have to feel awkward about that as a compliment. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/42996e4e-eae7-468d-a64f-dd96e1202b99/IMG_1619.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Launch Loveliness - When people say nice things about the book itself? Different matter. And it’s not that I’m not proud. Of course I am - I’m proud of myself, I’m proud of my characters, and I’m proud of the delightful team of people who helped bring this thing out into the world. But like, no one wants to come across as arrogant, do they? And I think there’s a chance I sometimes take that too far. BUT. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/e88f4283-9b61-4828-a3bc-2a98f7945b95/c2ad8649-a6d1-48e1-92f9-9ef378454ae5.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Launch Loveliness - This launch? This little party in the basement of a Waterstones in the financial heart of central London? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/4e362733-4fac-4da0-9e82-f071767fc355/7e729804-9c20-4bb4-b7ec-3f23d89cc0c0.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Launch Loveliness - These angels who came to celebrate with me? (And all the other angels too - friends, family, readers, writers - ALL of you <3) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/f8273b8c-dce5-41c0-9b16-5b3136a68a48/a15f2434-2be0-4e98-a224-446841f8c58a.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Launch Loveliness - The cupcakes my mum made that made everyone’s teeth go black? The fact all but three of the books we ordered in sold? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/a1f17709-cdfd-48f6-af02-ed638a0dbdfb/6698b1af-9824-4105-a300-2a98c6360cd1.JPEG Things I'm doing - Book Launch Loveliness - All of it - flawless. Perfect. Zero complaints. I’m so lucky. I’m so grateful. I’m so happy, I could burst. And if anyone reading this has given the book a chance, or is interested in checking it out - good god, thank you, so much. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/fancy-seeing-you-here monthly 0.5 2024-06-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/39e4c456-b3ac-46bd-965f-e30eb61e2426/The+Dark+Within+Us.jpg Things I'm doing - Fancy seeing you here! - So, what’s been going on since we last spoke, you ask? Kind of a lot, actually, which makes it even worse that I haven’t been updating you! You know how my cover launched? Well, first of all, people were so lovely about it, which I completely get, because Micaela has done such a beautiful job. I love it more every time I look at it. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/cover-reveal monthly 0.5 2024-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/cdacfbd4-f282-4ebc-aecb-c37cbe56cc65/The+Dark+Within+Us+Cover+Reveal.png Things I'm doing - Cover Reveal - Look at this! Isn’t it gorgeous?! Design: Micaela Alcaino https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/39e4c456-b3ac-46bd-965f-e30eb61e2426/The+Dark+Within+Us.jpg Things I'm doing - Cover Reveal - In case you’re interested, here was the process from my end of working out what the cover would look like: https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/my-whole-heart monthly 0.5 2024-01-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/51c9ea14-4127-4fbb-97c4-365ef172dc48/242E640C-AA84-4D8A-B080-73A19376ECD1.jpg Things I'm doing - My whole heart. - The other stray I picked up was a black cat with a white flash on his chest and a tiny dot of white on one of his back feet. His name was Billy, and today, aged eighteen and after just over eight years of living with us in that house, he’s gone to sleep for the last time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/733bbb28-cb4e-44f5-babd-b9d458dced3c/IMG_4651.JPG Things I'm doing - My whole heart. - I’m not an idiot. I knew as soon as he arrived at my house he wouldn’t be going anywhere else. And I know it’s soft and corny and sentimental to make an earnest post about the death of a pet. I didn’t even make a post about the death of a close relative last year, so it also feels out of character, but… God, I’m going to miss this bloody cat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/075c8147-8f16-4748-8a82-f2fc5ee02ca4/12c79dfe-8a21-4d71-aa22-677795341d92.jpg Things I'm doing - My whole heart. - He was also a total tart. Like I said up top, my house was a revolving door of vulnerable teens (and the occasional police officer and/or social worker, because vulnerable teens sometimes come with those too), and Billy took all of thirty seconds in each case to leap on a new lap and demand fussing. I know it’s probably just me projecting, but I really do feel like he knew who needed comfort in a room, and was happy to offer it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/deb98dfd-7428-48b5-b044-09bfe2760479/IMG_8898.jpeg Things I'm doing - My whole heart. - Losing the best cat who ever catted was not how I wanted to start my 2024. But… he wasn’t well. I’m so grateful to my mum for noticing, and taking him to the vet as quickly as she did, because I would have hated for him to be stuck in pain. Eighteen is a good age for a great cat, even though the eight years I had him don’t feel like long enough. He had a whole life before he came to us, and my only hope is that we gave him the best life he could have wanted while he was ours. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/a-festive-2023-roundup monthly 0.5 2023-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1703795503327-BYYI5YPPE41RQEEZY7D7/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - A Festive 2023 Roundup - Am I a Proper Writer (tm) yet? I feel like it’s mostly proper writers that can get away with these kinds of posts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1703797163765-PAYCFO7J6FN3OCIX926Y/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - A Festive 2023 Roundup - This isn’t to say I didn’t do a lot of writing — — because I did! I think in total I must have written somewhere in the region of 120,000 BRAND NEW WORDS across the year, which is like, an adult fantasy novel, at least. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/chicken-house-big-breakfast-2023 monthly 0.5 2023-11-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/8427834f-1114-4075-8cd5-36766364ff61/CH+LOGO.jpg Things I'm doing - Chicken House Big Breakfast 2023 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/2530c301-e1d1-472d-b415-31bb9aea614f/LL+Photo+BB+Panel+23.jpg Things I'm doing - Chicken House Big Breakfast 2023 - Here I am, possibly trying to answer the question “what are your hopes and fears for our future world?” (Which is a BIG QUESTION for a breakfast event). Picture taken by my delightful agent, Louise. Look at Major, Amie’s German Shepherd, outshining the lot of us onstage! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/ee8d7a44-fdaf-487a-9898-0a57a419bb4c/LL+Photo+BB+Cover+2023.jpg Things I'm doing - Chicken House Big Breakfast 2023 - Cover coming soon. Well, fingers crossed, anyway! https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/still-nowt-but-also-not monthly 0.5 2023-11-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1669117184111-Y9GWUDE5ABG2HC6K0YUJ/IMG_5856.jpeg Things I'm doing - Still nowt, but also not. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/nowt monthly 0.5 2023-11-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1697538973604-4KBYRXMKW9ARNNU7IUEZ/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Nowt. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/line-by-line monthly 0.5 2023-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1695576836417-FXT4CIRIAEX60514TFLO/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Line by line… - I haven’t blogged as much about this round of edits, and it’s for no particular reason other than that it’s not been as big of a task as the developmental edits were. There were a couple of suggestions I didn’t agree with, but all I had to do was present a different solution and the editorial team were really supportive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1695577131908-PRVOHJOD927GAVO36MVN/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Line by line… - I don’t know exactly how to feel about it — I remember feeling like this last time, too. I know I’ve put good work into it, and made a real effort to improve the story based on my editorial feedback, but I won’t know how successful I’ve been until someone else has looked at it. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/workarounds monthly 0.5 2023-09-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1693916773346-4BN2C570L6GALYMZ0ZYL/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Workarounds - Is that unfair? It might be a little bit unfair. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/waiting monthly 0.5 2023-09-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1693561270979-3MQTWYLS8DTMHQKKGDBB/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Waiting… - But even so, waiting for that reply was hard, because I wanted to know what he thought, I wanted to hear from him, I wanted his attention and I wanted to give him mine… So, like, when you’re waiting for something you really want, that gives you butterflies to think of it… waiting is the hardest thing. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/a-change-is-as-good monthly 0.5 2023-08-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1691749059819-8EMAWT0CPW2FRNFEA750/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - A Change Is As Good… - My workspace will probably never look like this. Honestly, I’d be scared to breathe, much less do any work. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/spinning monthly 0.5 2023-08-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/6d72416a-8cd2-4e23-a48d-8a1af96ed937/4C656BB1-998D-411C-B4D1-244041E63ECC.jpg Things I'm doing - Spinning! - When I got into weaving, which happened sort of between September and December last year, I made my partner promise not to let me get into spinning. He’s a very sensible man, so he completely ignored me, and let me do what I wanted. What I wanted, it transpired, was to purchase a £9 drop spindle, some fluffy wool, and have at it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/59074c9b-774e-41c5-9dd6-7ed8658ed0c7/025E16FC-6371-4745-AA67-19F92325620E.jpg Things I'm doing - Spinning! - The feeling of getting it right, figuring it out, is nothing short of magical, honestly. It’s so cool to me that I can take something that has essentially come from a sheep (albeit the fleece has been heavily processed before it gets to me - ever seen a sunset-hued sheep roaming the fields of North Wales?), and with nothing more than gravity and a bit of a flick to send a weight spinning, I can turn that into yarn. I also really love that this is an old craft. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/e0e0153d-c1fb-4916-b85c-7b33df7cc222/E1AD0B2D-082C-410E-B2E7-D9E3C4BE8299.jpg Things I'm doing - Spinning! - I can tell how much I’ve improved over the past few months, because I’ve been crocheting my practice yarn into a big, ugly old blanket I can’t wait to use come winter. My earliest tries were lumpy, slubby and in the blanket kind of look like big lumps of popcorn. Now, I can generally create reasonably consistent yarn. Even if my main spin has some thick-n-thin bits, the plying process often evens it out, especially when I do a 3-ply chain-style process like the one shown here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/17c72680-1039-43c2-8d47-fcf2ef30aaba/F5F55007-FEA7-4CBC-923E-FDDC8985B8AF.jpg Things I'm doing - Spinning! - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/lets-review-shall-we monthly 0.5 2023-08-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1689188877840-FRF0E64IW7K53ISXSLZ2/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Let’s review, shall we? - I mentioned a few posts back that I have 10-12 projects on the go at any given time. I was referring, then, to writing projects — because if I were to add in weaving, crochet, spinning and bookbinding projects as well we’d be here all day. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/permission-to-play monthly 0.5 2023-07-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1689182509666-55GHLOA1C2DZ34JPX81D/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Permission to play - I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve got, in this draft. It’s dark and grimy, fully of alleyways and labyrinthine, neon-drenched geographies. Someone gets shot on the first page. There’s a conspiracy, a stark class divide, and a half-android Rottweiler named Ingrid. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1689183330947-6YJC3SQUQJXJP94FM7SH/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Permission to play - I’m giving myself permission to play. Because I’ve been running in circles, trying to work out which novel idea I should work on, which my agent might like best (which won’t be a cyberpunk noir, trust me), and I’m getting in my own way. Do you know the best thing this mucking about with dictation and iNotes has done for me? It’s reminded me how much I like writing. Making shit up, writing it down quick, and building words around it. So I’m going to do that. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/filling-in-the-gaps monthly 0.5 2023-07-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1688474544457-54QKRSZGOVN2MIS63CJ3/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Filling in the gaps - In order to teach myself dictation, I decided to work on a brand-new project. So far it’s going well — it’s a nice palate-cleanser between edits for All Hell and I’ve decided it should be a novella, so it doesn’t feel daunting in length. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/writing-voice monthly 0.5 2023-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1688139024750-0G8XV1G03ULTFBPF5PRA/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Writing Voice - Although, to be fair, this isn’t 100% new information. But it’s something that struck me today, as I was dictation a scene for my palate-cleanser novel idea. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1688139378852-NWSBQ5X3TPZLDKNHQOI0/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Writing Voice - So the problem has to be… typing into Word. Or dictating into Word. Whatever. The problem is with Word. Not me. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/diane-make-a-note-of-that monthly 0.5 2023-07-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1687949170948-MLPL4CG80TAKIIMPI89D/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Diane, make a note of that. - I’m not saying I wanted to learn dictation so I could pretend to be Agent Dale Cooper, but I’m also not not saying that. I’ve had some success this first week, and I thought it might be nice to share it… https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/all-this-fuss-about-ai monthly 0.5 2023-06-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1687868085022-3A8KMD3CX41BJ92D5JIP/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - All this fuss about AI… - Call me a late adopter (because that’s absolutely accurate — I didn’t get a touchscreen phone until I was 24), but I can’t get myself too excited about ChatGPT right now. Not for my creative work, anyway. I’m getting very excited about the opportunities it presents in my day job as a careers advisor, because as far as I can tell the possibilities are wide and expansive, and as students will still need me to navigate it with them, I don’t even think it will do me out of a job. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1687874550156-8LTIZG7KRI5UZK2VC5F9/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - All this fuss about AI… - After all, if it’s good enough for the likes of John Milton, Dan Brown, Henry James, Barbara Cartland, Winston Churchill and Terry Pratchett (thanks for that lovely list goes to Joanna Penn at the Creative Penn) then it’s definitely good enough for me. And, in a world full of evolving technology, why wouldn’t I at least give it a shot? Apparently, if I get the hang of dictation, I’ll be able to tell stories faster, which in the long run might mean I can produce books faster. In the above-linked article by Joanna Penn, she talks about dictation as a potential way for writers to be healthier too - no longer hunched over a keyboard, we could write while out in the great outdoors, chatting away to our dictaphones (or, more likely, our smartphones). https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/my-dad-my-reading-hero monthly 0.5 2023-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1686732941296-44YF9S6IG9BM4F3KQ24T/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - My Dad, my reading hero - This made me think (fondly) of my own dad, and the reading journey he encouraged for me. But let’s be clear: my dad never read out loud to me. That just didn’t stop him becoming my reading hero. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/goddamnit-i-have-to-write-about-skins monthly 0.5 2023-06-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/3435669a-b2fc-4a1b-b09f-9328e8ed9dc7/Skins.jfif Things I'm doing - Goddamnit, I have to write about Skins. - And look, I’m not here to argue it’s the best TV ever made. Even reviewing the episodes from those two series that made up Gen One (each series represented a year of A Levels, roughly, so each generation only got two series each), there are some utterly ludicrous plotlines. Chris boffing a teacher? Sketch the Stalker? The musical number?! https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/edits-edited monthly 0.5 2023-06-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1685389005092-LFUSSS6Y3PGLOGTRP1A4/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Edits… edited. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/edits-part-six monthly 0.5 2023-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1685310022697-M33R5YLQA1LU6BESDW9K/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part six] - I was hoping and planning to celebrate finishing my edits today. And, to a certain extent, I can do that. I can say, truthfully, “I have finished doing the things I planned to do with this story based on the notes from my editor!” https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/edits-part-five monthly 0.5 2023-05-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1684407827718-7N6HDNQLLQLM2ON342Z3/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part five] - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/edits-part-four monthly 0.5 2023-05-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1684004901995-ZKXWC4CWVHAE5PK72CHL/unsplash-image-e8YFkjN2CzY.jpg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part four] - I do try not to whine about my various illnesses too much. It’s hard though, when it feels like your own body/brain is trying to sabotage you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1684005655151-GWLZIA7FPQNX90TMCE8J/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part four] - So no, I didn’t get much done last weekend. And once upon a time I would have spent all this week beating myself up over that fact. I’d have stayed up too late after work every night trying to claw back productive time lost to being legitimately ill. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/edits-part-three monthly 0.5 2023-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1684003249911-KVTI32R2RH4TDWJPSPWJ/unsplash-image-gdTxVSAE5sk.jpg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part three] - Sometimes it all just goes the way you want it to. On those days, you pop on a YouTube ambient noise playlist and get stuck in. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/edits-part-two monthly 0.5 2023-05-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1683026490307-XM93UPJSE777AYENYN4I/unsplash-image--TRcaFMV5vk.jpg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part two] - I’m not proud of what happened next. Largely because what happened next is that I entirely panicked and had to call my Mum. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/edits-part-one monthly 0.5 2023-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1683023695713-TE6HEJ46PUIMPI6S5ORG/unsplash-image-tn57JI3CewI.jpg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part one] - A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from my editor. I’d been expecting this email for some time, but didn’t have a precise timeline on when to expect it. In fact, I’d been trying urgently to distract myself from the whole waiting game by writing a different book. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1683023833372-EQZ86LEUBUE51NCY5FAE/unsplash-image-feLC4ZCxGqk.jpg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part one] - I found loads of stuff about handling edits from other sources — beta readers, paid developmental editors, even friends and family. But it seems like not that many authors have commented on how they dealt with edits from their agents, or their publishers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1683024691518-G64S6QWVPTFU2JGLGJZ2/unsplash-image-ElF7K4IWcGQ.jpg Things I'm doing - Edits! [part one] - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/a-world-of-my-own monthly 0.5 2023-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1680352738424-SFHT41J3FGJQEGDCARMQ/unsplash-image-9-kKRL6aiik.jpg Things I'm doing - A world of my own - Which tools are the best for worldbuilding, as a writer? If you’ve ever done an online search for the above question or something similar, you’ll likely already know how many tools and techniques exist for this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1680353564406-JO3WYRGN4IEXL4UAG7R0/unsplash-image-ZT9gjcJog6U.jpg Things I'm doing - A world of my own - And you know that meme from Charlie in Always Sunny where he’s trying to explain something and he looks like a conspiracy nut connecting lots of clues together with red pieces of string? That’s kind of what I think of when I think of the term “worldbuilding” — because it’s an incredibly complex thing to try and hold together. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/how-was-your-weekend monthly 0.5 2023-04-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1679768247837-PIGDYIT87IJEQMU0MCWY/unsplash-image-dyXoMMxDplY.jpg Things I'm doing - How was your weekend writing? - I thought it might be a fun exercise to keep a diary of sorts about my weekend writing schedule. I made this a bullet points throughout the day, then typed it up properly after. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/my-patented-at-home-writing-retreat monthly 0.5 2023-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/47f533dd-17fd-488a-8061-dd64a3714016/1.png Things I'm doing - My Patented* At-Home Writing Retreat - In my last post, I fully intended to include details about my at-home writing retreat, but then I got sidetracked making excuses for myself and ranting about pens, so here we are. What you see here is Page One of my beautiful (thanks, Canva) retreat brochure. In it, I have broken my days into hour-long chunks, from 10am (because I’m non-functional before then on a weekend) and 7pm (because any later than that feels unrealistic). You’ll notice a few things here, perhaps the most egregious of which is that I’ve included tasks so simple a labrador should know to do them, like GET UP. SHOWER. BRUSH TEETH. TURN ON PC. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/f61199cc-8991-419c-a2f0-038014c4db88/2.png Things I'm doing - My Patented* At-Home Writing Retreat - This is Sunday’s offering — same deal, I’ve split my day into hours and given each hour a task, or a couple of mini-tasks to get done within an hour. I’ve added some movement into my days here. I’m not a small woman, and part of my “zoning out” issue is that I can also sit entirely still for hours at a time, playing games, reading a book, or writing, and it’s not good for me. So I had to add that into my list. Also, housework, because I’m not yet successful enough to live in one of those houses you see in TikTok ads with so many gadgets cleaning things you might as well have a robot butler. God, I’d love a robot butler. Putting some washing on and doing the washing up as part of my day will mean I still feel “on top of it” at the end of the weekend, resulting in fewer shame spirals about the state of my flat, because that can lead to… you guessed it… writer’s block. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/b2dd24df-5a8e-42b6-bfe3-86d561fa1419/3.png Things I'm doing - My Patented* At-Home Writing Retreat - Here’s my Monday list — which concludes with “set goals for coming week”. Sometimes that means “create a list of scenes you want to write over the next few days in 30 minute chunks” and sometimes it means “reminder you’re busy until next Saturday again”. But having it here closes the weekend off nicely, just as “review writing goals for the weekend” opens it. Cyclical, see? Also, “household admin”. Like, ordering groceries, checking the gas and electric metres (I don't actually do this, but I have to remind someone to do it), putting our Who Gives A Crap order on pause because how much toilet paper do they think two people get through in a 3-month window!? I wouldn’t do that stuff if it wasn’t on the list, a Future Jess would hate me. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/writing-retreats monthly 0.5 2023-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1679572794137-CR46ZQOHPEK2FQMBG4FK/unsplash-image-ps9cSHYerEw.jpg Things I'm doing - Writing Retreats? - Do you dream of getting away to write? Going somewhere calm, somewhere serene, somewhere, dare I say it, a little glamorous? Yeah, well, tough. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1679573826308-U2HLYZWLLLU0MJO95FAW/unsplash-image-7ezFz2Hxd40.jpg Things I'm doing - Writing Retreats? - I don’t necessarily feel guilty about this. I’m not on a deadline, and I read a fabulous tweet thread by Isabel Yap yesterday that laid bare all the reasons people might not be able to write as much as they’d like, which just goes to show we are all unique individuals with our own lives and problems. But those tweets also made a crucial point: you have to own the time you do have if you want to write, or else you won’t get any writing done. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/bad-rats monthly 0.5 2023-03-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1678828427089-9S07YRSRSCCWUBR3JXPA/unsplash-image-oAa4BY3b-vo.jpg Things I'm doing - Bad Rats - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/not-to-shock-you-but-ive-done-some-writing monthly 0.5 2023-03-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1677672505928-SBOIALJNACM1PKLI1BLI/unsplash-image-0gkw_9fy0eQ.jpg Things I'm doing - Not to shock you, but I’ve done some writing. - To be honest, it wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing as this picture I’ve chosen might make it appear. Truthfully, it was mainly me hunched over in a creaking office chair pretending my hands weren’t freezing because of the draught coming from my lovely, period-feature single glazed windows (insert upside down smiling emoji here). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1677675865494-TPJU2N1CBS7RXC8PNNXH/unsplash-image-OOHsoUNRxt8.jpg Things I'm doing - Not to shock you, but I’ve done some writing. - But right now (write now?) I am in this lovely position where what I’m writing currently… is fun. I’m finding myself reluctant to go to sleep because I’ve got just-one-more-scene in me. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/passion-projects monthly 0.5 2023-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1676375082443-H2CPHBD76WKKHD47BCWK/unsplash-image-2-T1nIZbrR0.jpg Things I'm doing - Passion Projects - I wasn’t always very good at it, mind. I ran away from home at 16 because I couldn’t hide how unhappy I was, and then I spent pretty much the next ten years telling everyone and anyone what that was like. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1676375706581-KNMCZZOKDJ5T90YMU5MA/unsplash-image-buymYm3RQ3U.jpg Things I'm doing - Passion Projects - But then… Over time, I quietened down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1676376041226-ZA06YIICJUOP9HNQVLG9/unsplash-image-H0hmTActXsI.jpg Things I'm doing - Passion Projects - Because, in part, I don’t know who would care about what I have to say. Because, in part, I spend a lot of time convinced I’m not very clever so I should keep my mouth shut. Because, in part, I was diagnosed with anxiety fairly recently and I do spend a lot of my time wondering how I can move unnoticed through the world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1676377585403-KN85X36305X8X30BRBC8/unsplash-image-EP6_VZhzXM8.jpg Things I'm doing - Passion Projects - This is so important for my writing. For all writing, I suspect. Because we wouldn’t write at all if we didn’t think we had anything of interest to say - and when I think about the books I love best, they’re often loud, voicey stories that scream their passions. So that’s what I’m working on right now. And my story, my character, in this book isn’t good. She isn’t quiet. She isn’t pleasant. But she is passionate. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/im-a-bloody-part-timer-again monthly 0.5 2023-02-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1676237201379-OW9TCZ8CZHTKS86H8B58/unsplash-image-oAa4BY3b-vo.jpg Things I'm doing - I’m a bloody part-timer (again) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1676237906691-ZPY8NUP14SXDCBS5I2BL/unsplash-image-3Kv48NS4WUU.jpg Things I'm doing - I’m a bloody part-timer (again) - But, that’s the thing about good intentions, innit? Road to hell etc. I had a super-productive Saturday. I nailed it, and wrote more than 6,000 words on my new project, largely lining out my plot points to make sure I have a solid structure to work towards. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/theres-a-rare-storm-out-there-tonight monthly 0.5 2023-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1674937269560-DNLTMMHDHTLFJBSXR766/unsplash-image-dR0-9HfpLvI.jpg Things I'm doing - There’s a rare storm out there tonight… - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/choices-blummin-choices monthly 0.5 2023-01-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1674646877914-UHZHFCR2MVH3CWS71A13/unsplash-image-Aohf8gqa7Zc.jpg Things I'm doing - Choices, blummin’ choices… - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/i-shant-be-setting-intentions-for-2023 monthly 0.5 2023-01-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1673476797878-JIHD9W24P73IVAIWPWGG/unsplash-image-SBYsc1gsA-M.jpg Things I'm doing - I shan’t be setting intentions for 2023. - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/a-small-announcement monthly 0.5 2022-11-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/d1d580bb-b51f-489b-91a6-37ae6b30aec7/the_last_judgment_triptych_1971.7.1.jpg Things I'm doing - A small announcement - Those years were not my favourite ones, honestly. I ran away from home, slept on friends’ bedroom floors and sofas, and eventually got a council flat with a side dose of “oh God, I have NO money.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, my mental health took a dive. For unrelated reasons I’m sure, my Gothy tendencies intensified and I got *really into* quasi-religious, spiritualist writings about how Lucifer was misunderstood and also 14th century Italian poems about Hell and the people therein. Well, just one of those, Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, from The Divine Comedy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/65bd49ff-df71-4102-90ae-2de3f75d3fd5/MBJ.jpg Things I'm doing - A small announcement - I realised, through watching Skins and also from reading books like Junk by Melvin Burgess, that it was possible to write about the kind of young people I knew and loved. I could write about the hard things we were going through, and also - because it was a story - I could write about Lucifer and Dante Alighieri’s 14th century vision of Hell, and no-one could stop me. The problem was, in 2006, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I wrote some stuff and it was high melodrama. I made people read it and they were all lovely about it, but I knew it wasn’t finished. I put it away for a bit and came back to it at university, but I knew there was something off about it. I decided it was too big a topic for someone like me to tackle, and started writing a couple of other things instead. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/iceland-2022 monthly 0.5 2022-11-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/19da70d5-2c16-44f0-957f-fea16b173126/IMG_5856.jpeg Things I'm doing - Iceland 2022 - Make it stand out Landscape at Thingvellir National Park https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/ac9cb8ce-ad66-427b-b435-7f2e4a94ea96/IMG_5858.jpeg Things I'm doing - Iceland 2022 - At one point, Hayley said to me, “the thing about Iceland is, everywhere you look it’s just… beautiful. Everywhere.” I don’t think she’s wrong. Even in the most industrial parts of Reykjavik, you look up and there’s a mountain in the background wearing a floaty cape of cloud, with the later afternoon sun hitting it in the most pleasing way you could imagine. I can understand why Icelanders are so creative - after all, we were there nominally to attend Iceland Noir, a festival celebrating Nordic crime fiction. It must be difficult not to be inspired by this place. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/796fdcd4-3c11-4531-8383-1b00ba75bfac/IMG_5908.jpeg Things I'm doing - Iceland 2022 - I feel so lucky I got to spend some of my November on this glorious island. They might not have a lot of light at this time of year, but what they do have is sensational. I mean… just look at that sunset. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/b32dd325-1153-40eb-bcd1-fd5f6d608f05/IMG_5944.jpeg Things I'm doing - Iceland 2022 - In so many ways, this was the perfect holiday. A mix of adventure, nature, relaxing in geothermally-heated pools, and many, many discussions about literature from some really interesting authors both local and international. I was genuinely gutted to come home, except that I missed my boyfriend. Plus, Iceland Air might be the kindest airline I’ve ever flown with. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/flexible-working monthly 0.5 2022-11-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1667994369581-70I7V4H6BAXUBTPN34LN/unsplash-image-3OiYMgDKJ6k.jpg Things I'm doing - Flexible Working - I know, shocker, right? The thing is, it was only after I accepted this 4-days-per-week job that it felt like there was a possibility of my writing ambitions coming to anything. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1667995026274-RJ34G4RF2SA9PN9RMVVF/unsplash-image-BlIhVfXbi9s.jpg Things I'm doing - Flexible Working - But old habits die hard. And last year, my boss asked if I’d like to go full-time. We had some extra funding, we didn’t want to lose it, and the best way to use it was for me to go up a day. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/15th-century-tablet-weaving monthly 0.5 2022-11-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1667392496135-GUJVZ2914Y8TV5JYAQEB/IMG_5600.JPEG Things I'm doing - 15th Century Tablet Weaving - What on earth is this? I hear you ask. Well. It’s my new hobby. My new “I love this because in a way I’m keeping an ancient method alive and also I cannot be arsed to learn a more practical skill like crochet or knitting” hobby. See also, my “if I’m weaving something I am definitely producing something creatively but you could also argue I should definitely be writing” hobby. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1667392720253-GKBRJT6XSZHR055V7PQ6/09B6F94A-7DDC-482A-890C-EA03D48E10F2.jpg Things I'm doing - 15th Century Tablet Weaving - Anyway. Point being, I do this stuff now, and I’m finding it meditative as well as deeply frustrating. Look at this on the left… the pattern is not supposed to look like this and I’m not yet good enough at weaving to know where I’ve gone wrong. And I am still writing The Ghost Diary, but in similar news, I’ve made some tweaks to the plot and therefore have mucho, mucho rewriting to do. So I’m going to weave for a bit, and use that meditative period to figure out how to proceed. By which I mean: I’mma procrastinate. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/horror monthly 0.5 2022-10-05 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/swings-amp-roundabouts-i-got-shortlisted monthly 0.5 2022-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1664564122393-HH1PO3W7XOI79G0C5VX6/unsplash-image-Rj1IWO8IozE.jpg Things I'm doing - Swings &amp; Roundabouts (I got shortlisted!) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/timeschicken-house-2022-i-got-longlisted monthly 0.5 2022-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1663157762953-XKMMK4JT9ZJR5CKSPY1G/jason-leung-Xaanw0s0pMk-unsplash.jpg Things I'm doing - Times/Chicken House 2022 - I got longlisted! - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/food-amp-feelings monthly 0.5 2022-09-09 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/creating-amp-compromise-pt-2 monthly 0.5 2022-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1654898751077-T3IFIV2I1WVCY482LY77/unsplash-image-9o8YdYGTT64.jpg Things I'm doing - Creating &amp; Compromise (pt 2) - I’ve mentioned my day job a few times in this blog. I love my job, fortunately, partly because I get to work with incredibly clever, creative students sparkling with enthusiasm. I love that. I don’t think I’d change that even if I did shockingly well with writing, somehow. But in my last job, I worked with Creative Writing and Literature students. Hell, I’ve been a Creative Writing student, twice over! And the thing is, it always felt like a taboo to point out the realities of publishing to them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1654899522186-QB2B1EB4J2P4RX9JIP4Y/unsplash-image-fJba2rc3MfE.jpg Things I'm doing - Creating &amp; Compromise (pt 2) You could go it alone, though, right? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1654899867156-TAQEL25BBCRO1R3AJXB1/unsplash-image-58Z17lnVS4U.jpg Things I'm doing - Creating &amp; Compromise (pt 2) - The thing is, I don’t begrudge any of this. Not… exactly. I just… can’t help thinking about it. A lot. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/creating-amp-compromise-pt-1 monthly 0.5 2022-06-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1654896734806-P8VBC3CLG3KNAP1V4VCI/unsplash-image-IlUq1ruyv0Q.jpg Things I'm doing - Creating &amp; Compromise (pt 1) - It doesn’t really help that anything to do with publishing can feel like a cryptic maze only very people have a map for. There are hoops to jump through, arcane spells to cast on a full moon (well, possibly not that, although honestly I don’t think it would hurt). There is also, undeniably, the fact that the chances of getting published as an unknown, non-celebrity debut author in the year of 2022 are vanishingly small. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1654897763089-BYANUSPD5PUD49LYGTMM/unsplash-image-mbGxz7pt0jM.jpg Things I'm doing - Creating &amp; Compromise (pt 1) - Hold on a sec. Rewind. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1654898168780-SOIQQQ14657T5C0PZS4H/unsplash-image-0jdV5Ashbf8.jpg Things I'm doing - Creating &amp; Compromise (pt 1) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/3b2hfrwxpgyf1honotzylikc6v077i monthly 0.5 2022-10-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1651430411694-LJ47U82XXA5YU70YT3G7/image.jpg Things I'm doing - Short Stories - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1651430580687-DJENNE9R1XE2FD2QGFG2/image.jpg Things I'm doing - Short Stories - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1651430700197-BBYFN11NLYFZ8SB1OJFT/image.jpg Things I'm doing - Short Stories - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1651430777154-MMKR60CMRJ0EL4QECVA6/image.jpg Things I'm doing - Short Stories - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/my-virtual-tbr-pile monthly 0.5 2022-06-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1584652423043-RQZZVCLP7QIPX7CJR7CE/robert-anasch-McX3XuJRsUM-unsplash.jpg Things I'm doing - My Virtual TBR Pile - Before I begin, obviously I also have a very real TBR pile. Pile being the operative word, actually. My real TBR currently includes Queenie, The Magnificent Sons and The Cabinet. That’s just physical books I need to read; my Kindle app is a whole other basket of snakes. I should say, my reading speed varies wildly based on what else I’ve got going on. Most recently, I’ve been writing my own novel as well as reading friends’ books before they send them out to agents. The pesky day job often gets in the way of my reading goals, and there are also other forms of media I’m equally interested in. I can’t read a book and play Stardew Valley now, can I? What this means is, I end up with HUGE TBR piles, some of which only live in my head, and every time I see someone talk about a book on Twitter I think, Oh My Gosh I Wanted To Read That! and then promptly forget all about it again. So, I’ve decided this post will serve as a Virtual TBR List - and there some real benefits to this. Not least, if I’ve expressed an interest in reading a book on this list, I don’t actually have to buy it straight away. I mean, usually what happens is, I walk into Waterstones and leave with an armful of books I’ve never heard of before but looked interesting in the moment. Then all those books get added to the pile of books I already own that are waiting to be read, and I still haven’t given any thought to the others I wanted to get. (I might also share this list with anyone who asks “is there anything you’d like for your birthday?” The answer is usually “book vouchers”, but this could also work…) I’ve recently set up Libby/Overdrive accounts with my library at work and my local library, so I’m already moving further into this virtual bookshelf world. Maybe I’ll have a check later and see if either of them have these books available… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1642251116787-JXDLPTEKVRW005TSTWBT/unsplash-image-w8JiSVyjy-8.jpg Things I'm doing - My Virtual TBR Pile - SO, here is my Virtual TBR as it stands on 15th January 2022 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/out-in-the-world monthly 0.5 2022-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1641993889226-ODNFQ5KN4OGUSQ6ZRZ17/unsplash-image-azA1hLbjBBo.jpg Things I'm doing - Out in the World - I’m talking about my book. My words. I wrote it, I did some (possibly half-arsed, but I’ll come on to that) editing, and then I emailed it to other people to read! I’ve sent the book to a professional editor, and to four people who have kindly offered to read the whole thing and then tell me what they think of it. Apparently I’m supposed to call them beta-readers, but all things considered I’m calling them Angels, because they Are. *Alt text: Brightly coloured wooden letters on a brown rug. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1641994967506-RP7MM8MZLP1AVE2LESDS/unsplash-image-sm3Ub_IJKQg.jpg Things I'm doing - Out in the World - So, when I say my editing’s been half-arsed up until now, it’s not through lack of effort. It’s lack of knowledge that’s got me screeching to a halt. And that’s how I knew it was time to send it out into the world. I’m paying for a professional edit because I’m lucky enough that I can afford that, and because I think it will help me learn how to be better at editing myself for next time. The Angels are important because I can’t read this story from fresh ever again. These people can, and I know they’ll tell me where it works and where it doesn’t So, eventually, I’m hoping I’ll be able to get it better than it is already, with lots of notes and opinions to help me do what this picture suggests. *Alt Text: Blue neon sign against a dark wall, reading “work harder”. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/cleaning-house monthly 0.5 2022-01-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1641897617308-WCYEOOL3X43OWX7ZB1S7/unsplash-image-__ZMnefoI3k.jpg Things I'm doing - Cleaning House? - It is also about writing. Kind of. The thing is, I’m not a naturally tidy person. I hate guests arriving out of the blue, I don’t have kids to tidy up after, and there are lots of bits of traditional housework that I just find… pointless. I don’t own an iron, as a for-instance. But. I also like to live in a clean, tidy space. Who doesn’t? I don’t want to fear my letting agent saying they need to do a check. I don’t want to be embarrassed if my mother visits. I also can’t write properly if my house is a total tip. There’s too much guilt and distraction, and it makes me anxious. None of those things are good. *Alt text: an arm wearing a very pink rubber glove holds a yellow and red spray bottle that likely contains some sort of cleaning solution. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1641900755228-C4SLRKEDJTACT5C3I1K3/unsplash-image-dhZtNlvNE8M.jpg Things I'm doing - Cleaning House? - And the thing is, I often feel like I don’t have enough hours in the day to write as it is. Let alone clean. Especially when I end up having one of my fairly regular migraines and lose a whole day. Especially when on top of this I work full time already, so writing feels like another job. So… does… cleaning. That’s why Jenny’s advice to do a small amount daily, and crucially, stop when you’ve achieved that is so genius. I can probably write 500 words in 30 minutes, if I’ve got a plan for where to start. And, even when I’m tired from a day at work, I can usually spare 30 minutes in an evening, especially when I’ve already told myself to STOP after my 500 words are written. Alt text: pale green alarm clock on a background that is half pale pink and half the same colour as the alarm clock. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/this-is-about-expensive-shampoo monthly 0.5 2021-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1639403182902-T83DHK1OXR02UDXXQ7HZ/unsplash-image-3bj1fSbxxe4.jpg Things I'm doing - This is about expensive shampoo - What this comes down to is that I fully intended to write a review about some fancy haircare, and I can’t even explain why I wanted to. I mean, when I write about books I loved, games I enjoyed, I can understand why someone else might want to read that. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/grey-days-amp-cosy-moods monthly 0.5 2021-11-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1637071341632-TLUGN9GFA5C3B1J63ATB/unsplash-image-w8JiSVyjy-8.jpg Things I'm doing - Grey days &amp; cosy moods - & my body craves thick, knitted jumpers and fluffy socks, and my brain whispers tempting, taunting things. Things like, “what responsibilities? Your only responsibility is to keep warm, stay tucked up, and read something.” So that’s what I’ve been doing - reading something. Lots of somethings, actually: I checked in on my Kindle app earlier today and it transpires I have read at least a book a day, every day, for the past sixteen days. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1637073104154-A0K5I6V6MPAFW8FUTLQU/unsplash-image-pDKoVuXYKxU.jpg Things I'm doing - Grey days &amp; cosy moods - My point is, I was a reader to the point that reading made up a large part of my personality. I was one of those kids that lived for the school Book Fair, and to this day my favourite gift to receive is a plastic card with the word “Waterstones” splashed across the front. But, there’s been a change in my reading habits as I’ve grown older, which is perfectly encapsulated by the sixteen plus books I’ve read in the past two and a bit weeks. As a kid, I’d read whatever was put in front of me, but as an adult… my gosh, I go through phases. If I find something I like, I want to immediately read something else exactly like it, but, y’know, not actually exactly like it. Just, enough like it to give me the same feeling when I read the initial thing I liked. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/so-im-a-gamer-now monthly 0.5 2021-09-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1631531056406-5BG6VIEQA3BTDDE08TRQ/unsplash-image-CuFYW1c97w8.jpg Things I'm doing - So, I’m a gamer now. - I mean, I trapped Lara Croft’s butler in a cupboard a couple of times, but then I kept drowning her in her own swimming pool so I tended to just watch my dad play rather than pick up a controller myself. I’ve never actually owned a console myself - not even a Megadrive, although - again - I used to watch my cousins play Sonic on theirs quite a bit when I was a kid. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1631531254254-5T7ILU2J67XHF8S8X421/unsplash-image-1jLi_nZG59U.jpg Things I'm doing - So, I’m a gamer now. - I didn’t have an at-home PC until I was 15, and only then because a friend’s dad took pity on my for how often I asked to come to their house to type up my homework, so gave me their old one when they upgraded. Maybe this is why it took me so long to get into games as something that’s not just occasional? I played The Sims 2 on a friend’s PC when I visited her house, which in hindsight was SO antisocial and I can’t believe she kept letting me do it. But now I have my own gaming PC. It doesn’t have a graphics card but I’ve so far not found a game it won’t play; I’m not a graphics snob. We’ve also moved out of that tiny flat, so now I have my own little space in the bedroom to play when I want, and I’ve found that I still want to. Maybe because I’m not a ‘traditional’ gamer, I’m far more drawn to indie games that are doing different things with story, or with puzzle. Maybe that’s why this week Panda is watching the Valorant LAN tournaments while I am solving murders in Paradise Killer. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/writing-4-times-a-personal-goal monthly 0.5 2021-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1595071141622-B5TK0IO1D00TD11TQRWY/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Writing 4 Times: A Personal Goal - Recently, I discovered this blog post from Writer’s Digest and Mike Nappa about how to write your book - ideally, four times. The idea really resonated with me: one of my goals is to write multiple books, not just The Perfect One, and the fact it currently takes me so long has long been an issue in that regard. (I’m probably going to need more than four coffees to achieve this though, lads). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1595073417777-1R6HBG4XLP1Q7O5ITI4D/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Writing 4 Times: A Personal Goal - I love this, in theory at least; it’s a deceptively simple idea that might just keep me on track with my writing. I’m going to incorporate a couple of other things in my arsenal to make it work for me: the Fabula deck for planning and tracking, and a devil of a spreadsheet editing document I got from a course earlier this year. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/dark-london-out-now monthly 0.5 2021-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1592750477388-9FHS0SZ0MSBUJ4JCJYOB/4.jpg Things I'm doing - DARK LONDON: out now! - It’s here! It’s out! If you pre-ordered, check your Kindle because it should have automatically downloaded, if you’ve bought a paperback version it will be winging its way to you shortly! And if you haven’t purchased yet - now’s the time! I hope you love it; both this and the 2nd volume are full of creepy, dark and mysterious tales of London, and all royalties will be donated to charity. I’m so, so proud to be part of this project - and thank all of you for supporting us! https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/the-deadlines-are-working monthly 0.5 2020-06-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1591475086499-VVS39GDSQ42EAWX4CCY1/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - The Deadlines Are Working! - Would you believe it? Would you credit it? Would you look at that? A few days ago I wrote about how I often need deadlines to propel me along motivational heights. And, well, I just took a week off work to work exclusively on my novel. And, this is the really amazing part - I worked on the damn novel! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1591475600862-EN8EQ7V6UA0VGGXTIOJT/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - The Deadlines Are Working! - Here’s something else about me: I’m an ENORMOUS PEOPLE PLEASER. I have been my whole life; teacher’s pet, the kind of kid who preferred to spend time with grown ups just so I could get that warm glow when I overheard someone tell my mum how mature I was for my age. All of that. It’s… it’s not always a good trait. Not healthy. It’s cause a shit ton of hardship, especially in my romantic relationships, and it means I can be an absolute pushover from time to time. But when it comes to deadlines what it crucially means is: if I set them for myself and no one else is impacted, I will miss them. But, if you’re a prestigious literary competition with judges and volunteers and a Twitter account, I will bend over backwards to get you what you need. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/dark-london-the-anthology monthly 0.5 2020-06-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1591878889583-B3RBQS5JVPC1TYXNABY4/3.jpg Things I'm doing - Dark London | the anthology https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1591880808381-L62KJG1GJE13PUEWV7T4/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Dark London | the anthology - I am also acutely aware that other people have it far worse than me with my benign fear of missing my tube stop in London. Especially now - and that’s one of the main reasons I bit the bullet and submitted a story for this anthology. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/black-lives-matter monthly 0.5 2021-09-07 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/give-me-deadlines-or-give-me-death monthly 0.5 2020-06-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1590590418658-5YQHYTPPUCFJVIF7KL76/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Give me deadlines, or give me death https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1590591352719-KLO6SGYNON3DH1PZ0CP8/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Give me deadlines, or give me death - Back in 2011/2012, I entered competitions largely for the promise of prize money. I was skint, after all, and I couldn’t really think of a better way to make money. I’m in a much better situation now, financially, which means I don’t need to be as concerned about winning something to re-invest the money into more entry fees, but instead I can use the prompts, rules and previous winner galleries to help inspire new stories and drive that creative, generative energy. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/impostor-part-two monthly 0.5 2020-05-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1590587642495-WV6AFRDKKO1VOFNQN3PU/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Impostor, part two. - “Oh, you don’t want to fit in all the time, do you?” said the teacher, the doctor, the mother, the friend. And every time she said “no, of course not! Standing out is much better than fitting in, I don’t want to be like everyone else.” But inside, a traitorous little voice whined, “but I only want to stand out when I’m doing something everyone is impressed by! The rest of the time I want to fade away into the background.” https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/anxiety-needles monthly 0.5 2020-05-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1589979220372-1FQVSZE95WCSGFK8VK7O/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Anxiety Needles - Today hasn’t been a good day. And (deep breath) that’s ok. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1590016923938-QTBRC62FJEZF42EQQNSL/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Anxiety Needles - I think it’s happening a bit more often lately because of… y’know… “everything”. I suspect I’m not the only one, but that doesn’t make it any easier because instead I just feel like we all need a massive hug. I’m lucky my boyfriend’s really supportive, given we’re trapped here together. I’m lucky I can text my friends and call my mum and work a little later than my (strictest sense) work hours. I just hope that everyone I know who’s also having days like that knows they can reach out to me too. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/dark-london-update monthly 0.5 2020-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1589382321274-D7QFSQCBLCQB26HTA2QS/94703583_10158061693430761_5729239154546442240_o.jpg Things I'm doing - Dark London Update! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1589382880132-W24HXYZ6D1B3KU8VQYT0/2.jpg Things I'm doing - Dark London Update! - Darkness lurks beneath London’s glittering surface… Discover London’s dark side in a new collection of short stories written by award-winning and international bestselling authors! Let us take you from Golders Green, in a tale of redemption, to Hope’s End, the final stop on a rambling Tube ride. Then head to Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel where you learn of an unexpected murder – and not only one, as women fall prey to the most brutal crimes! Onwards, to the shores of the River Thames, where mudlarking is not simply a pastime, but full of dangers; and then we send you to a pub where you encounter a strange visitor. A Tube ride leads to a vision from the past; followed by an introduction to a ghost who turns into a stalker. Lastly, discover the splendor that was Westminster Palace in the Middle Ages, but is it a safe place to be for a woman with an eye on the English throne? Discover nine gripping short stories that leave you gasping for breath, as London’s dark side is revealed. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/hey-you-dont-belong-here monthly 0.5 2020-05-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1589379036840-RPPBX4Q566PLGDRFSHP7/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Hey! You don’t belong here! - In early 2018 I wrote an hour-long workshop for PhD students, titled ‘Impostor Syndrome: how to recognise it and combat it in academic career paths.’ It went down a storm; every single participant fed back that at least one of the techniques I’d talked about was helpful, and overall the feeling was that I’d used my expertise as a Careers Professional appropriately on this incredibly troubling topic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1589540791246-JYKZFMJ3GGV2JIZPSZED/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Hey! You don’t belong here! - My training, before I started the professionally accredited PgDip, consisted of one colleague who had started at the university on the same day I’d moved to this new department sitting with me at a picnic bench in the late September sunshine, with a Post-It note. In each of the four corners she’d annotated - ‘C’, ‘Cl’, ‘Ex’ and ‘AP’. Contract, clarify, explore and action plan. I kept that note in my pocket for about three months, pulling it out before every 1:1 appointment to remind myself how to manage the 15 or 45 minute appointment slot I was about to head into. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1589541866665-BE6C66US9ZTC2ED2O84G/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Hey! You don’t belong here! - And this was amazing for me. So many people to learn from! So many opportunities to share ideas and get support! They’re also one of the loveliest bunches of people I could ask to work with - there is a sense of community in the team, the kind that means when we all started working from home it was only natural we’d develop a Friday Night Zoom habit. It doesn’t even feel forced - something I think a LOT of teams would be bloody lucky to emulate. But. I suspect you know what’s coming - because I suspect you’ve felt this yourself. I really do think it’s probably universal (except maybe for politicians?). I began to have some questions. Like, ‘What if I’m not as good as everyone else?’ ‘What if I was only a big fish in a little pond before, and everything I thought I was good at… was a lie?’ And - worse than that - ‘what if someone notices?’ https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/0zr3m95lptcv4nrq7jlw3gr9ngcyg5 monthly 0.5 2020-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1589377840429-XNEFGUQA7GUV4ZQVMGTO/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Dear World… - No, seriously, I know you THINK you know, and I know that it seems to make a certain type of surface-logic, but You Don’t Know. You have no fucking idea, and the very fact you’re on the internet commenting under a Daily Ma*l article that a celebrity you have no hope of ever being mates with now looks so much healthier despite the fact you know nothing about her medical history suggests to me that you don’t actually give a toss about her health, you just don’t like fat people. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/trapped monthly 0.5 2020-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1587848864688-5ER1SIAKZB90CRXJ5KRU/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Trapped. - I was 21 when this happened, which means I’d only just finished university. After three years away I was moving back to my hometown - the only problem was that I had nowhere to live. I’ve mentioned before that I moved out of home at 16, and although I was lucky enough to get a council flat for a year before I left for university, I’d had to give it up in my first term as I couldn’t afford both rents and my feckless boyfriend at the time ran home to Mama and Auntie [redacted] when he realised he might have to pay something towards the flat he treated as little more than a spare living room. Not bitter, after so many years. Of course. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1587851001450-EBW1QW3BHR95FVT891L5/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Trapped. - There was no one in when my Dad dropped me off at the interim flat with a big bag of stuff. It was a big, Georgian or Victorian terrace at the posher end of town, so from the outside it looked impressive enough but as soon as I got in I was hit by a damp, unwashed smell. The walls in the hallway were… ahem, peeling. The kitchen, when I popped my head round the door, was fairly big and surprisingly modern but there were stacks of dirty plates and pans everywhere. Trouble with sharing spaces, nothing new to me. The only bathroom in the building was just off the kitchen, a little shower room. Annoying, since I was going to be up in the attic so whenever I needed a wee in the night I’d have a long way to go but not the end of the world. The attic room was… barely a room. A rickety single bed was pushed as far under the eaves as possible, and a low bookcase sat against one wall. I was pleased to note I had a bedroom sink, so I could at least brush my teeth on my own schedule. The room was one half of the attic. The stairs marked the centre of the space - on the other side, another bedroom. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/a-pasta-interlude monthly 0.5 2020-04-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1587053796674-D7Z7R45POI8MAO5GFCKN/flow-graphics-q9BAy-GGEMs-unsplash.jpg Things I'm doing - A pasta interlude - Ingredients: dried pasta shapes, 29p from the bottom shelf. Tinned tomatoes - try to get the ones with the white, ‘no-frills’ label. An onion; or two if you’ve only got those little cheap ones. 2 rashers smokey bacon - cooking bacon’s fine, since that’s what we’re going to do. Cook it. Method: put your pasta on to boil; the sauce only takes as long to cook as the pasta does to go just beyond al dente. Chop your onion, bacon and tomatoes into small bits and cook them together in whatever way seems sensible. Combine with the drained pasta; eat hot. Especially good when it’s the only thing you’ve eaten all day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1587058288396-3IGWD5XGCRSNM3DLHX4V/chuttersnap-ycnyotoyk8o-unsplash.jpg Things I'm doing - A pasta interlude - This recipe fed me for a whole week when all I had was a 500g bag of Basics pasta, left to my name. I was doing my A Levels and had recently discovered I owed NPower £300. 17 year olds on Income Support tend not to have £300 knocking about, and at the time I was cooking everything on a gas camping stove because I couldn’t afford to have my cooker connected. This recipe also fed me at university, many, many nights when my housemates were blowing their student loans on takeaways but I had bailiffs still sending me letters. It was the first meal I cooked for my first ‘proper’ boyfriend, and the last meal I cooked for the next one. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/d8hr4k9s4mxpvhwmiugg6k5tga1giv monthly 0.5 2020-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586438911845-Z9RHIG5Z2XWWF6ICXAC2/IMG_0719.JPG Things I'm doing - Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy - I’ve not included an image of the cover of this book here for two reasons: 1) I wanted to get away from mooning over book covers just for one post (although… this one feels so good in your hands - Dead Ink are really good at covers like that, I’m discovering), and 2. I’ve already done a post with a picture of this one, so go read that! Instead, have this fabulous quote from the beginning, taken from Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of the Witches. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586441137430-CQ5FGY17G0GYDJGX6AT2/image-asset.jpeg Things I'm doing - Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy - And yes, this is a book about witchcraft, but only in some senses. It’s just as much a book about witch hunts, suspicions, a stranger comes to town disturbances in a place’s equilibrium. Superstition, faith… and the act of losing faith. It’s about the grief of a family, and gaps in memory, little rituals we use for comfort as much as for anything else. You can tell research has gone into this, as much as imagination. History pops up where you least expect it - and for that reason alone let me warn anyone looking to escape C*v*d-*9 that the pre-Fire of London plague of the 1600s makes a large-looming guest appearance. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/ix6m2baeebxgpfsuy1pv4t8q6k9gvf monthly 0.5 2020-04-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586286461794-7USEEHGD77ESPAKW3LGM/IMG_0713.JPG Things I'm doing - Nostalgia for a time I never knew https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586288149245-J7NAQX0IFEPT3N2LQEPD/ajeet-mestry-UBhpOIHnazM-unsplash.jpg Things I'm doing - Nostalgia for a time I never knew - That’s not, however, how my mother remembers it (she was a child/young teen in the ‘70s, so I suppose she’s the perfect candidate to do one of those surveys). I sent her a message and asked what she remembers, and she said: “Bay City Rollers, Howden Carnival and the May Queen crowning, working at Mayphil Cafe, babysitting, and meeting your Dad.” I didn’t ask if she thinks the ‘70s are the Good Old Days because, I mean, Bay City Rollers?! And as for meeting my Dad, they’ve been divorced since 1996 so I’m not sure that’s such a ringing endorsement either. But I digress. Back to me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586263312319-6NSK5HRP4G1IR7JQ77UR/Adjustments.jpeg Things I'm doing - Nostalgia for a time I never knew - It likely won’t surprise anyone reading this to learn that the way I think we should handle this is… by reading. This, to me, is what story is for: taking us to times, to places, to a sense of nostalgia, or at least empathy, for something we can have no other way of experiencing. So I shall, this week, be reading Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy, a book set in the ‘70s, during that heatwave in 1976 that all other heatwaves are judged by. Everyone I’ve seen online who’s read this loved it, so I’m excited to dive into this witchy, ‘folk horror’ version of the ‘70s. I’ll let my mum know if there are any May Queen crownings when I’ve finished. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/leaning-witchy monthly 0.5 2020-04-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586025746576-S5D6VF3FWMDM2610E4CQ/IMG_0656.jpeg Things I'm doing - Leaning Witchy Look at them! Btw, I get to be the Magician in this spread and I am a-ok with that analysis of the situation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586025867445-MCFA6IT1VEYV1A1YZ401/IMG_0657.jpeg Things I'm doing - Leaning Witchy I feel like I should point out that these are the ‘Tattoo Tarot: ink & intuition’ published by Laurence King Publishing. Aren’t they gorgeous? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586026003215-H06ZHO6RYK9KPZ9LQCK4/IMG_0658.jpeg Things I'm doing - Leaning Witchy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586027796195-LODHFU9680AR1BTLY8HD/IMG_0683.jpg Things I'm doing - Leaning Witchy I cannot stress this enough - I could honestly stare at these all day I love them so much. Strength! What a woman. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/some-news-trust-me-its-of-the-good-variety monthly 0.5 2020-04-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586366792226-YWJ83LCY3PSCU2B60OBY/Darkstroke.jpeg Things I'm doing - Some news (trust me, it’s of the ‘good’ variety) - Do you see that last photograph on the list? The round-cheeked, big-specsed one? Yeah? YEAH! That’s me! Yep, my excellent news is that my story, an invitation will appear in one of two volumes called Dark London this summer, in a duo-anthology set of short stories all set in and around the Big Smoke. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/i8aft28d2h89c3av0x8a23glbbf6bj monthly 0.5 2020-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1586263551180-4K1I10XQVWOKK90VDRES/Adjustments.jpeg Things I'm doing - Comfort reading in a crisis The Sookie Stackhouse books are in my top 5 most-read books. I don’t often re-read books; when I do it’s almost always for comfort. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/s09vxncnxrvpsd3gmwptzhm0yr2qu5 monthly 0.5 2020-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1585432890335-7M0US6ZL2FCR7IOTW8GL/95463D1E-32A4-4A5B-BA83-7035392A8FCA.jpeg Things I'm doing - Escapism via music… via books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1585433623412-DGVO429HUYH61J9RDVUP/Adjustments.jpeg Things I'm doing - Escapism via music… via books …and don’t look too closely at my kitchen floor, ‘kay? We are sweeping, we’re just here a lot right now. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/epksl14g2moih091a2w2q9oc6ahx0j monthly 0.5 2020-03-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1585410110128-U6FC31KWXJBTJQ1ZYXY9/Adjustments.jpeg Things I'm doing - Her indoors - We’re all stuck inside right now, for the most part. It can’t only be me it’s doing strange things to. And strange times always send me skittering back to magic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1585411362013-EAI7CAA00XG8AGUN5WTC/Adjustments.jpeg Things I'm doing - Her indoors https://www.jesspopplewell.com/doingthings/judging-books-by-their-covers monthly 0.5 2020-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1584653296799-M2O1RRDH6PKA9DCRYNXM/47861B1F-4AE2-4A77-AFC0-6708FDCB5569.JPG Things I'm doing - Judging books by their covers - I know, I know, you’re not supposed to - but come on! Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix is gloriously over-designed until it’s supremely grabbable on a bookshelf. It’s likely to appeal to greedy horror fans (like moi) but equally to catalogue hoarders* and graphic novel enthusiasts alike. *…is this where I admit I’ve never been in an IKEA in my life? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1584653927146-SFLV10S1RLR21KRS67BL/0C7BECF3-BD11-4943-A978-38F9DF2220B2.JPG Things I'm doing - Judging books by their covers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1584653933361-08Y38AQLZWRMVRV27NTB/745D7940-19ED-4D9F-901E-EA1A8D2821C1.JPG Things I'm doing - Judging books by their covers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1584653943695-ZGUXEKK1IAI022BY2H2H/E896C4F9-6134-44E1-BD95-DB777F1FA5B8.JPG Things I'm doing - Judging books by their covers https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers daily 0.75 2025-03-26 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/rejection monthly 0.5 2024-11-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/b669b2f6-3df0-4236-9269-1458375cc818/Covers+for+web+links.png Careers Advice for Writers - Rejection… - Nobody likes rejection. Maybe I’m biased, but I feel like it’s probably even worse for authors. As is my wont, I’ve made some videos about it. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/pragmatic-rationality-the-art-of-being-realistic monthly 0.5 2024-11-08 https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/portfolio-careers monthly 0.5 2024-11-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/b669b2f6-3df0-4236-9269-1458375cc818/Covers+for+web+links.png Careers Advice for Writers - Portfolio Careers - You might hear this term sometimes when writers talk about how they make ends meet. …You might even have one yourself already. How would you know? Well, it probably helps to know what it means, first! https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/constructive-criticism monthly 0.5 2024-10-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/b669b2f6-3df0-4236-9269-1458375cc818/Covers+for+web+links.png Careers Advice for Writers - Constructive Criticism - Even the most magnanimous writers can sometimes, secretly, find constructive criticism a bit tricky to handle. So… here are my thoughts on that! https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/social-media-for-writers monthly 0.5 2024-10-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/9b6381c7-f28b-4add-a197-4ed35a6f21b7/2.png Careers Advice for Writers - Social Media for Writers - Do you need social media as a writer? Why might you want to use it, and why might you want to avoid it? I made three videos on just that topic! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/c189a10b-4959-4364-9087-ba113496f0e6/3.png Careers Advice for Writers - Social Media for Writers - So, those are some of the reasons it’s probably fine to not bother with social media if that’s not natural for you. But why might you want to think about it? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/b9d0111b-36e6-413c-af00-29ca04a57e52/4.png Careers Advice for Writers - Social Media for Writers - The below video is about some other things you might want to consider when it comes to social media. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/do-you-need-a-writing-mentor monthly 0.5 2024-10-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/3481343c-e193-41f9-a4e4-5fe6db18f703/1.png Careers Advice for Writers - Do you need a writing mentor? - When I started making this series, a friend of mine very kindly offered up a whole series of questions that might work for it. This was one of them. And it was interesting to me, because I have paid for writing mentoring before, and yet I’d never really thought about it. So now I have - lucky you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/3481343c-e193-41f9-a4e4-5fe6db18f703/1.png Careers Advice for Writers - Do you need a writing mentor? - Part two: pros and cons https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/listen-up-write-and-wrong-podcast monthly 0.5 2024-10-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/efc42b35-64f6-4b2e-9f42-979095ee2ba6/IMG_2383.jpg Careers Advice for Writers - Listen up: Write and Wrong podcast - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/4ad68534-2689-428f-a148-0ec9bee65cca/IMG_2382.jpg Careers Advice for Writers - Listen up: Write and Wrong podcast - It was a lot of fun! And I thought it might be a good idea to mention it here, in my Careers Advice for Writers resources, because about halfway through, Jamie asked me about career advice I’d give to writers. It should be no surprise to anyone that I obliged. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/writing-competitions-are-they-worth-it monthly 0.5 2024-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/0ca6b562-b5d4-4918-bff3-ef6a983f35ed/4.png Careers Advice for Writers - Writing competitions! - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/10ff9c6f-1ef9-4397-a037-477ad6053951/6.png Careers Advice for Writers - Writing competitions! - OK - so you’ve decided you’d like to do some writing competitions… Where should you look to find some?? https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/pitching-to-agents monthly 0.5 2024-10-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/e3f41bc7-36b2-490b-8777-473930af0dd5/1.png Careers Advice for Writers - Pitching to agents - This page has all three* videos I made for TikTok on the topic of pitching to agents, with video scripts if you’d rather read than watch! Part one focuses on why you actually, maybe, shouldn’t take me word for it… *I actually made four, so there’s a bonus at the end as well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/8aed8a30-8b65-485a-843d-5512da7997bb/2.png Careers Advice for Writers - Pitching to agents - Part two: how is querying agents like applying to jobs? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/f344ddf4-eddc-4d1e-9c54-92293922508d/3.png Careers Advice for Writers - Pitching to agents - Part three: practical tips and considerations https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/choosing-a-university-course monthly 0.5 2024-10-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/a43ebd49-d2c3-4bf1-b63f-7482949bd6d3/5.png Careers Advice for Writers - Choosing a university course - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/choosing-a-writing-course monthly 0.5 2024-10-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/7d039ad2-f176-4d2d-97e0-0974b49e9843/1.png Careers Advice for Writers - Choosing a writing course - This page collates 4 different videos from TikTok, with written scripts, on the topic of choosing a writing course. Up first: Part One. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/e13ecc3d-1829-4c98-9071-1f4c37974f35/2.png Careers Advice for Writers - Choosing a writing course - Choosing a writing course [part two] - value for money. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/e5e50d01-61cf-4fd7-a411-75e05b11ee79/3.png Careers Advice for Writers - Choosing a writing course - Choosing a writing course [part three] - what do you want from a course? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/03d426c8-5209-4a2c-aa3c-4cbf5f886a34/4.png Careers Advice for Writers - Choosing a writing course - Choosing a writing course [part four] - is it good quality? https://www.jesspopplewell.com/careers-advice-for-writers/do-i-need-a-degree-to-be-a-writer monthly 0.5 2024-10-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1727951310256-0YGMGHZC2P4PAA5WO72U/5.png Careers Advice for Writers - Do I need a degree to be a writer? - No. That was easy, wasn’t it? On’y jokin’ - video and transcript below. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/get-in-touch daily 0.75 2024-10-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1631010451856-WLP0L4PWIWY23XZS144P/Strawbs+on+plain+notecards+2.jpg https://www.jesspopplewell.com/hidden-page-for-image-hosting daily 0.75 2025-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847323266-72NWHRF1QFUTULW9BR18/20140301_Trade-151_0124-copy.jpg Hidden Page for Image Hosting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847322796-4GQWUIJZ69E1XBVGEYUY/Large+JPG-20140228_Trade+151_0046.jpg Hidden Page for Image Hosting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847322171-2YHNWSTDQVJZWG6BB8MJ/Large+JPG-Aro+Ha_0428.jpg Hidden Page for Image Hosting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847321447-1IJTU4ZDFUYJYXJTERFM/Large+JPG-Aro+Ha_0010.jpg Hidden Page for Image Hosting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847320238-2VZQPV9ELGH1BFG69Q8J/Large+JPG-Aro+Ha_0393.jpg Hidden Page for Image Hosting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847319534-81UFWBJ847PXRDO7CHWE/Large+JPG-Aro+Ha_0380.jpg Hidden Page for Image Hosting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1742749562949-21TRZLC8R3Q6FDTF8YE4/unsplash-image-LqKhnDzSF-8.jpg Hidden Page for Image Hosting The Archive - Joshua Sortino - Unsplash https://www.jesspopplewell.com/about daily 1.0 2025-08-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/1036d805-b7cf-4303-857d-015915ae0e3a/The+Dark+Within+Us+Cover+Reveal.png About - When homeless schoolgirl, Jenny, meets demon, Luc, they make a dangerous pact. Both have been scarred by the same childhood event – the day Jenny’s soul was stolen by Luc’s father. Now Luc has promised to return it, but can a demon be trusted? Jenny must find the courage to follow Luc into Hell and save him from the darkness that waits. The stunning debut novel from the Times/Chicken House Children’s Competition 2022 Chairman’s Choice Prize winner, Jess Popplewell. Dante’s Inferno meets the 2006 UK TV series Skins in this fresh contemporary YA. Artwork by Micaela Alcaino https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/442a8228-ad07-4953-a17e-07907d41d564/IMG_9775.jpeg About - Jess Popplewell is the author of The Dark Within Us, winner of the Chairman’s Prize in the Times/Chicken House 2022 competition. She was raised in the historic city of York, so she absolutely thinks about the Roman Empire more than is normal. And the Danelaw. And the Harrying of the North, which she still hasn’t forgiven the Normans for. Jess got her undergraduate degree in English and Creative Writing from Lancaster University in 2011 and her MA in Creative Writing from York St John University in 2016. She’s also a former gothy emo kid, traits which continually crop up in all her writing. Having experienced insecure housing as a teenager, Jess is passionate about preventing homelessness for young people. She was a host for the York-based charity SASH for three years, offering her spare bedroom to young people in need of emergency accommodation. She is represented by Louise Lamont at LBA Books. https://www.jesspopplewell.com/about/yalc-2024 monthly 0.5 2024-06-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/7f38cfa2-0f99-4bd8-a599-7dd6fe4c4881/YALC+announcement.jfif https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/75e4e9cf-ac5f-4ab6-8800-eccc7ebd366a/IMG_9775.jpeg https://www.jesspopplewell.com/about/buy-the-dark-within-us monthly 0.5 2024-08-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/cdacfbd4-f282-4ebc-aecb-c37cbe56cc65/The+Dark+Within+Us+Cover+Reveal.png About - Buy THE DARK WITHIN US The gorgeous cover of The Dark Within Us, designed by Micaela Alcaino https://www.jesspopplewell.com/about/one-year-of-dark-within-us monthly 0.5 2025-08-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5aea078bc6f77bb4ad6a94/cdacfbd4-f282-4ebc-aecb-c37cbe56cc65/The+Dark+Within+Us+Cover+Reveal.png About - One Year of Dark Within Us! The cover of THE DARK WITHIN US by Jess Popplewell which is a red paperback with monochrome illustrations of the two main characters, Jenny and Luc on it.